Tag Archives: Chattanooga

Timeout for Sisters

Posted on by
5

These are my children — my two daughters. They are beautiful young women, inside and out. How I came to be so lucky as to be their mom, I have no idea. But I’m glad it turned out that way. Younger Daughter, on the left, recently celebrated her 24th birthday by getting a new job and heading out of town to follow her dream of becoming a sign-language interpreter. She’s moved to Chattanooga, Tennessee, to live with my brother & his family while she looks for an apartment, wows ’em at her new job and figures the school thing out. I’m in awe of her adventurous spirit and boundless enthusiasm. I’m also in awe of Older Daughter, on the right. This week she’s fighting a nasty sinus infection, teaching her dance classes and keeping up — as always — with our grandson, 2 1/2-year-old Capt. Adorable, and still had time to teach me the secrets of hula-hooping (shift your weight side-to-side and keep your upper body stable). This photo is so them, too. When they were little, I used timeout to get their attention, but it was a different timeout for each of them. I sent one daughter to her room with her door closed because, as a definite people person, she considered being deprived of other people to be a dire and serious punishment. I insisted the other daughter serve her timeout right beside me at all times because she’d be perfectly happy all by herself in her room and so being forced to be with people was a major infringement. I think this photo shows exactly which daughter is which!

Photography and Writing

Posted on by
6

Photo by Mark Wood, Chattanooga, TennesseeMy four-years-younger brother, Mark Wood, of Chattanooga, Photo by Mark Wood, Chattanooga, TennesseeTennessee, is an awesome photographer. He teaches photography and art at Chattanooga (Tennessee) State College and recently was invited to exhibit with the Appalachian Photographers Project, http://appalachianphoto.org. I love that his photos reflect exactly the sort of person he is: A lover of nature and all things outdoors coupled with a belief that people basically are good — sort of. He also has a wry sense of humor and a wonderful eye for detail and line. I wish I could say I taught him everything he knows, but actually the opposite is true — although he probably would not want me to credit him for my photography (non)skills.

Since photography isn’t my forte, it’s a good thing I can at least string a few words together to make at least some sense. Here’s my weekly newspaper column from this past week on how my 1-year-old grandson is all boy, despite my attempts to encourage his inner girly side: http://www.timesdaily.com/article/20090410/ARTICLES/904105006. Friends who had both girls and boys say there’s an inherent difference and I’m seeing that in Capt. Adorable. However, there’s a great discussion on this topic at blogher — http://www.blogher.com/your-son-acting-boy-your-daughter-acting-girl — about what “acting like a boy” and “acting like a girl” really means and how this gender stereotyping may be harmful. Check it out and see what you think.

Easter Leftovers

Posted on by
7

Easter decorPost-Easter Monday always is filled with getting rid of Easter dinner decorleftovers: Eggs, eggshells, assorted mangled chocolate bunnies and those little foil-wrapped solid chocolate eggs that nobody eats. But I hope this spectacular egg centerpiece carved from a watermelon gets to hang around at least another day or so. It was featured at the Easter Sunday buffet at the Coffee and chocolateManchester-Coffee County (Tennessee) Conference Center, where we gratefully enjoyed ham, prime rib, lamb and all the trimmings after a morning full of rich and inspiring church services. And presents! My brother and sister-in-law, who live on Lookout Mountain in Chattanooga, Tennessee, are some of the best present-givers I know. They gave my mom an Easter basket full of beautiful ready-to-be-transplanted greenery, and I got  Blue Smoke coffee beans (http://bluesmokecoffee.com/) and some of the best toffee ever — less like peanut brittle but still fresh and crunchalicious — from local candymakers Scenic City Toffee (http://www.sceniccitytoffee.com/). And the travel French press coffee mugs from Starbucks? An Easter present from me to … me. I’d been eyeing them for days and finally gave in. I always do French press on lazy mornings when all I have to do is sit and sip — which means I do French-press coffee perhaps about twice a month. Maybe being able to indulge on the run will transfer some of that rare peaceful relaxation to my normal daily routine. All I know is that it’ll take lots of experimentation to find out — the things I do for scientific exploration!